Protests spill over to Srinagar, Budgam parts

Mirwaiz calls for calm, introspection

Abid Bashir

Srinagar, May 13, 2019, 12:00 AMMay 12, 2019, 11:42 PM

UPDATED: May 12, 2019, 11:42 PM

The protests against the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district spilled over to various parts of Srinagar on Sunday with protestors demanding stern and exemplary punishment against the culprits.

A group of people holding placards with slogans, ‘I protest
the rape of three-year-old girl’, reached press enclave Srinagar and registered
a strong protests against the incident.

The protestors said that incidents like the one witnessed in
Bandipora won’t be tolerated and such act can only be curbed when the guilty
are hanged in public.

A protestor said that playing with the chastity of a minor
girl who was not even able to talk or walk properly, “signifies the deep rot in
the Kashmir’s society that was once known for being conservative.”

“This is the time when people of Kashmir need to wake up
from the slumber and protest against the crimes that have brought disrepute to
us,” he said while others seconded him.

A witness said that massive protests broke out in Bemina
area of Srinagar where people demanded the guilty be hanged in public so that
“no such act takes place in Kashmir in future”.

Today’s incident is the second of its kind in the recent
past as earlier a minor girl was raped in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district,
triggering mass resentment from the people and the civil society. Protests were
also witnessed in Hawal area of downtown where youth were demanding justice for
the three-year-old victim.

“If we won’t wake up now, then such incidents will continue,”
said a young protestor. “What was the crime of this three-year-old kid?”

Reports of protests poured in from various parts of Srinagar
and Budgam including Magam and KhomeniChowk areas of Central Kashmir and
Balhama, Zadibal, Chattabal and other areas where protestors were demanding
arrest and hanging of the culprit. Meanwhile, the MutahidaMajlis-e-Ulemapatron
,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq while terming the incident as “gruesome and a blot on the
Kashmir’s society” called for peace and urged people not to get swayed and
forge unity for getting justice for the victim.

“Appeal all to maintain calm and introspect while demanding
stern punishment and speedy justice for the victim,” Mirwaiz wrote on his
twitter handle.

In his earlier tweet, he stated, “Deeply disturbed by the
shocking heinous crime committed on a 3-year-old child. Such repeated incidents
raise a serious question mark on how much of our moral and religious values
have been imbibed within us and are reflected in our collective behaviour as a
society.”

Karwan-e-Islami patron AlamaGhulamRasoolHami while urging
people to stay united in this hour of shock appealed the local administration
to get to the root of the case and arrest and punish the culprit in a way that
nobody else should even think of indulging in such heinous crimes in the land
of Sufis.

“This is the time, when people of all sects be that Shia,
Suni or any other, to show maturity and not to get swayed to rumours of
anything else and instead work in unison to get the culprit punished sternly,” AlamaHami
said.

Meanwhile, authorities snapped the internet services in
north Kashmir districts and also in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district as a
“precautionary measure.”

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